11 Con un Fetcha! (translates as 11 With a Date!)

Hola FAMILIA!

What a week. We had a lot of progress this week. The most exciting is that we have 11 people with a baptism date! Woot woot! Really excited about it. But I´m also really tired. I don´t think that will change much in the next yearish, so... I´ll suck it up.

Nothing much to report this week. We had our first major heat wave and dang... DANG! lol. The day it happened, we had lunch with a member. Then we got on a warm bus and I was tired.... Needless to say, I fell asleep. My companion thought it was hilarious. :)

I hope and pray things are going good at home. I know the Lord is with you and me.

Be Strong, Be Safe.

Erin

Guardar la Fe

One Step at a Time

Hola Familia!

Here is the official picture from my first zone conference.

We had one baptism this week - Ivan Esteves. He´s eleven years old and pretty cool. His brother Maties was recently baptized also. I´m really stoked for him. Aaron´s dad said no, but we are talking to him tonight and hopefully he will let Aaron get baptized this Saturday. Praying. :)

Elder Rivera, one of my zone leaders, left this Wednesday for a different area. Kind of sad about it. He was the one who always put a massive smile on and give me thumbs up because that was all I could do my first district meeting. It was pretty funny. He loved it. I don´t know why. :)

Found out that for people here to serve full time missions they have to serve a six week mini-mission. So the full time missionaries here work with mini missionaries for 6 weeks. I think it´s kind of cool, and super dedicated for the people here. Awesome.


Gotta Run! I know the lord knows what I need, and is with me every step of the way. I hope and pray for you everyday, be safe!

Love,

Erin

Guardar la Fe

Bautizado!!

That´s right family, dos bautismos!
Jonatan and Martin were baptized Saturday. I´m super excited for both of them, and we have Ivan´s baptism this week as well.

I received my suitcase finally last Wednesday - two of my watches, my alarm clock, my straightener, all of my batteries, and the speakers Ammon gave me, all missing. They look like they were taken by customs. I don´t know why they would take that stuff.... but, oh well. I´m going to buy speakers today, been going crazy without music. They asked me to lead the music at the baptism. There is no one here who can play the piano, and I don´t know which songs are which in the hymn book yet. Since I can't claim perfect pitch, the Bishop had to sing the first few notes for me. LOL! Very funny, very embarrasing.

I found out the other day that my companion and I are the only Missionaries in my area, and our area is big. We are hoping to gain Elders with the next transfer, but who knows? I think the Lord is trying to teach me how to tell direction, because the addresses here are crazy. I am so turned around everytime we go anywhere. Whoever gets transfered with me in this area is going to have a problem, cause I´m not going to be able to speak the language or lead us to where we need to go. lol. Patience, I guess.

I´m loving my district. Elder Garrett is in my district again, which is nice. I love my district leaders. The other is a native, Elder Rivera. Elder Rivera likes to make fun of me because the first time I met him, all I knew how to say was Sonrisa (smile), with my thumbs up. Now, everytime he sees me he gives me the biggest smile and a thumbs up. It´s so funny!

Elder Coombs is super patient with me when trying to explain things. In the end he has to resort to English - It´s terrible. I feel like a child some times, trying to be taught something very simple. The other day I was in an interview with them, and they wanted to see how well I did at reading Spanish. They opened my Book of Mormon and had me read a verse. I'm terrible at reading in Spanish - it´s a fact. I got a little nervous, but started reading anyway. Then I started laughing! Not laughing, haha... but laughing... HAHAHHAHAHH... giggle giggle... HAHAHHAHAHHAHAH! For like 3 minutes! They had a great time laughing at me. It was Terrible. They didn´t know what was happening. I didn´t know what was happening. I guess I just got nervous. I'm bad at interviews too, so that made me nervous. Entonces....

The otherday we were visiting a member family, The Zalazars, and they were shoveling dirt in front of their house. Hermana Medero asked if she could do a shovel full. She tried and got like a spoon full... and then I was like, YO QUERRO! (I want, I don´t know how to say I want to try yet) So they let me, and in my skirt I got three massive shovel fulls. Apparently it´s not common in Argentina for girls to know how to shovel because they were all amazed at my Griffeth shoveling skills. It was really funny.

NOthing mas happening here. I hope and pray for you everyday. Please be safe. Let me know more about what is happening. I love to hear the stories. You should see me here, as I read I have the biggest smile on my face. Not because of the fact that I´m reading English and understanding everything, but because I love the stories. Thanks for all the support. I love you all with all of my heart. Be strong and trust in the Lord, He know´s what he´s doing. Have patience. :) LIKE ME! :D

Erin

Guardar la Fe

It's been a long week....

Let me tell you about Formosa:
My apartment - It´s got three rooms, all about 8 by 10 and in a row; One for our studying/eating, one is our kitchen, and then our room with the bathroom. The lights in the kitchen don´t work, so we have to depend on the light from the other room to light the kitchen. The bathroom is about 4 by 4 and tiny as can be. It has a shower, with a curtain, a toilet and sink. The sink doesn´t work, the shower feels like a VERY light circle of water and we won't even discuss the toilet. lol. Let´s just say that it is an experience. Oh, and then there are Paul and Pedro. They are the spiders that live in the corners of the shower. That´s always fun. Every corner of the house has spiders and bugs. I´ve killed probably about ten. Those are the ones that are big - I leave the smaller ones alone. I just don´t have time to kill all of them.

The members here are awesome. They are really good, and really patient with me. They encourage my Spanish in every way. For example, the other day I tried to read out of the Book of Mormon, and when I was done they where like, "MUY BIEN HERMANA, MUY BIEN!" lol. It was really funny, but it helped. I am getting better at understanding and speaking. I just hope the Lord will give me enough patience that I won´t crumble. lol :) es la verdad

My companion is awesome as always. She is super patient still, I don´t know how she does it. It´s really hard with a language barrior. She´s awesome! I´ve hit my 2 week mark here, which means I am really REALLY frustrated with the language and teaching. I´ve cried a of couple times with the frustration, but I know the lord is helping me, or I wouldn´t be able to move. Give me a couple more days, and I should be fine for another few weeks.

We have 2 baptisms this week!!!! WOOT WOOT! Jonatan y martin. We are really excited - we have to teach them everyday though, we are a little behind on the lessons. I will definately send pictures. But my bag still isn´t here. I´m hoping soon. crossing my fingers and praying. :)

We have 3 more baptisms next week. Ivan, he´s 11 and super smart. His aunt and uncle are members and I love them. :) His older brother Matias (13) was baptized a couple of months ago. Aaron, he´s 17 and is pretty good at keeping commitments. Also, Ana Rosa and her son have been coming to church the past 2 weeks and she seems super dedicated. Her son Andres, is mentally handicapped and super cool. Ana was a Jahovah Witness so she has a lot of questions, but she´s super sweet. We had 11 investigators at church on Sunday. That was exciting!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!

Erin

Guardar la Fe!

Oh...Where to start. (August 1st)

HEY YO FAMILIA,

Today is preparation day, and boy did I need it. (I don´t like this keyboard) Lets start with leaving the MTC shall we....

I went to bed Sunday night at 11:30. I woke up at 1:30 to get everything around, take a shower, and get over to the travel office by 3am. We then proceeded to make the hour-long drive to the airport, where I pointed out our house to Elder Scott (one of my companions). We then arrived at the airport with about 20 Elders and Hermanas, all heading to Argentina (about 50 more were coming on later flights). Everyone had about three bags apiece. My carry on wasn´t a carry on with American Airlines, but the kind man behind the counter checked it for free. It was really nice. :)

Then at 6am, we took our first flight down to Texas, wandered the airport, got some food. Some called their families for about 5 hours. Then, we got on our flight for New York - where we sat on the runway for about 1 hour and 1/2. That was fun... then we got to New York. I would have called you guys sooner, but a lot of people planned to call their family from the airport... sorry. We then, waited for the plane for Argentina to get ready. We left an hour late.

We arrived in Argentina around 10:30am (Argentina time) and went through customs pretty easily. We then proceeded to get our bags... then to find, my carry on... is in Nashville. Apparently, the Nice guy put my bag under a different name, and sent it to a different place. (this was on Tuesday) and I still haven´t received it. I´m hoping it will arrive either today or tomorrow. Let´s cross our fingers...

Bueno, um... oh, then we got picked up by Alberto, where we were taken to a smaller airport to catch a plane that would take us to Resistencia. There we found out all the flights had been canceled because of Chile´s volcano. ALL PLANES - even the ones coming to Argentina, which is when we found out that Elders Dallimore and Christensen were stuck in Miami.

We waited there for 5 - 6 hours.... sitting and waiting. There was a Hermana there who went to the Argentina CCM (mtc). She was from Chile and didn´t speak a drop of English, and I didn´t speak much spanish - that was an interesting time. :) Entonces, (so) we waited... and waited... and waited, until our travel guy came back and told us we would take a 20 hour bus ride to Resistencia. LOL! We already thought everything was hilarious, so why not. We took our stuff outside to the curb where this travel guy started packing our stuff into his tiny car. That was hilarious - he yelled at us to give him our muchilas (backpacks) until we finally gave them to him. (This guy didn´t speak a word of English, and we don´t speak much Spanish). We didn´t know what was happening. He then took off with half of our stuff, and walked back, and had us grab the rest of the suitcases. We then proceeded to the bus stop.

He then told our Spanish speakers where to go and took off. We followed them to the bus station (a 10 minute walk) and waited for about 20 minutes for this guy. Apparently he went back to get the car that had the rest of our stuff in it.

Going into the bus station was crazy, so many people, so many buses, and a long line of missionaries with luggage. We then waited. We put all of our stuff against the wall and left the Hermanas and two Elders with the stuff. He (travel guy) then took the rest of our Elders, and had them go get the stuff in the car. Once we had all of our stuff, we waited. It was so such a pain. Finally, the bus showed up after being about a hour late. We loaded our stuff and were on our way. (This, by the way, is about 10pm, Tuesday night).

Good thing the buses were sleeper buses or I wouldn´t have been able to handle it. The chairs reclined and I was out like a light bulb - woke up about 12 hours later, and we were there. Weird, because someone had told me 20 hours, but I was happy that I had been lied to.

We arrived to the smiling faces of President, his wife, and two Elders. Our stuff was loaded up and taken to the mission office, which is connected to the chapel. That chapel was stunning! Super SUPER shiny, like high gloss paint over the wood, shiny. The Hermanas were taken to the president's house, which was awesome for the area, and were able to take a shower.

We then went back to the chapel where we were given lunch, then out with the missionaries.

I gave my testimony once, while my missionary shared the rest, and we knocked (clapped) on doors the rest of the time.
We came back to chicken pizza, and headed over to the presidents house, and fell asleep right away.

The next day was all presentations, and we were given our NEW COMPANION for 12 weeks. It´s a new program that will help the new missionaries become one year missionaries in 12 weeks - I'm really excited!

The End,

Now, the part you have all been waiting for... (drum roll please).....

I´m in the city of FORMOSA!!! In a part called Terminal. It´s awesome - super humble. Mold on every wall, along with spider webs, masquitos, and rain. :) I love it!

Also, my Companion is named Hermana Medero. She is native to Uruguay, and doesn´t speak any English. So... it´s been fun trying to do companionship study and planning... along with everything else. lol - Let´s just say it´s stressful. Patience... I know.

I love the people here, and the members. Here, for every girl you meet, 2 kisses, one on each cheek. Every girl. lol :) We have two people for baptism on the 13th. Jonatan y Martin. 12 & 8 years old. They are super cute, I´ll send pictures.

Teaching has been hard. I start, forget what I´m about to say, give like two sentences of my actual lesson and give my testimony. It´s terrible.

Well for now that´s it. I would send pictures, but my camera stuff is in my missing bag, along with my COAT! It´s freezing too. It´s like February in Aberdeen, wet and cold with wind.

Also, real quick, I have 15 masquito bites... I know right...

Man. It´s hard. I´m so tired. There is so much walking. SO MUCH WALKING. And Companionship study is now 2 hours. So ya.

I don´t understand anyone. I catch a couple of words here and there, and my little Spanish has helped, but isn´t great. I don´t understand anyone half of the time. I just smile and sit there... smile and sit. My companion is really patient- REALLY patient. It surpises me sometimes. She talks the whole time, and I read or smile. lol man... but I trust in the lord, so I will try, smile and sit however longs he needs me.

Love you!

Erin

GUARDAR LA FE!



Anyway. I love you all. Thank you for keeping me sane with your letters. Let me know how things are, and you can write me on email now.

I love you,

Hermana Erin Kaye Griffeth

Guardar la Fe

Last Letter from Utah...Until we meet again. (July 23rd)

FAMILIA!!!

I know I mentioned this yesterday, but Yes, Hermana Lao is staying. She didn't get cleared by the doctor, she is supposed to be in here for eight weeks, but it's only been five, and he dropped it to six. So she'll be leaving next week.

We said good by to our teachers Thursday, which was sad. I'll send you pics once I'm in Argentina. You can't do it much here. :) Our district has gotten even closer this week, and I recently realized how much I'm going to miss them. They have all shown me something that I need to work on; Patience, hard work, what not to do, power of a testimony, being yourself, being strong, having knowledge, being silent, and being loud. lol :) I'll see half of them, but the other half I'll have to wait for 2 years to see - it's weird to think.

Thank you to everyone who has written me! You just all seem to know what I need on that day. Whether it be a forward, a spiritual thought, about your day, or telling me that you were bored and decided to write me. :) I love them, please keep writing... or start (KYLE). Feel free to write me a dear elder or write me an email. I'll get them either way. Dear Elder's will still be sent through pouch, but which ever is easier, please write.

Ya... things here have been crazy! Infield orientation was so LONG! I kind of wanted to punch someone. But it was fun at the end, where we were so tired, that everthing was so funny. Elder Marple was tripping out - it was hilarious. But I've been packing and getting everything around today. It's nice, we don't have class or anything.

I've recently realized (this coming from an experience yesterday) that I suck at Spanish. Suck! Now, let me tell you the story. It's actually not that funny, but it just made me super depressed. Yesterday, during infield orientation, I met this Elder who is going to Las Vegas. He is from Uruguay. He asked me where were were going. Donde iremos? Now, practice saying that. Now times it by 100. That is not even how close to how fast he sounded. I was like, I don't understand... He just laughed and we talked in English the rest of the time. Let me tell you a little fact I heard the other day. Argentina has the fastest Spanish in the world. Resistencia has the fastest Spanish in Argentina. Now... How would you feel? That's right... Like crap. haha. I keow I wasn't even close to awesome at Spanish. In fact, I knew that I was at the bottom of the class at Spanish. Pero, I didn't think I was that bad. I can pray... ish and share my testimony and give the first and second lesson (really simpily) and give the first vision and ask someone if they want to be baptized all in Spanish. My conversation skills... are terrible. Oh well, who knows. Maybe I'll be paired with a native and I'll will SOLOMENTE (only) speak spanish. We'll find out. The Lord knows what I need.

vi una columna de luz, mas brilliante que el sol. Directamente arriba de me cabeza. al gradualmente discendio hasta descansar sobre me. Al reprosar sobre me la luz. vi en el aire arriba de me a dos personajes. cuyo flugor y gloria no admitten discripcion. uno de ellos me hablo. llamandome por me nombre y dijo. senialando al otro. Este es me hijo almondo escuchalo.

That is the first vision, off the top of my head. I spelled half of the stuff wrong and I have no accents, but ya... I am learning... something. :)

I love you all with all of my heart. Keep being awesome. and I hope to hear from you soon. This is my second to last day in Utah. Until we meet again. :D I'll call you monday, around 8 in new york 6 there.

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Erin

Keep the Faith!

Flight Plans!!! (July 15th)

Sonrisa Familia! :) (look it up)

This week has gone by so fast. Biggest news first! -> I got my Flight plans! Woot Woot! The six of us who are going to Argentina have three different Schedules. Lame huh? lol - Elder Scott, Hermana Lao (possibly), and I are going from Salt Lake to Dallas to New York to Argentina. Elder Garrett is going to LA first but meeting us in New York. Elders Christensen and Dallimore are meeting us in Argentina. They take a route to Miami. The three of us leave for the travel office at 3 AM IN THE MORNING! It's going to be one long day. The others leave around 6 am. Christensen and Dallimore will even arive in Argentina a half hour before the rest of us. No se. I am the traveling coordinator for eight people. I have to make sure they check in and make sure everyone is there. I also have to call people if something goes wrong. I'm super excited to talk to you all from the airport! Muy Animado!

We got Hermanas in a room a couple weeks ago, Sister Powell, Sister Biggs and Sister Charles. They are going to Cali. They leave Monday... We are really hoping that next week we don't get sisters so we have room to put all of our suitcases. :)

So, apparently I talk in my sleep when I'm stressed. A couple of days ago I woke my companion up (or she was already awake, can't remember) by yelling, "Hermana your saying that wrong, it's Oracion (prayer)!" I apprently also correct people. LOL :) Who knows what will come out next?

We were able to clean the temple today. That was way awesome and a completely new experience. It might be the last one I have in the temple for 14 months. That's weird to think.

We still don't know if Hermana Lao is coming with us. One Dr said yes, the other said no. We will find out Thursday.

Love you all,
Erin

guardar la fe

Mantener la Fe (July 8th)

HOLA MI FAMILIA!

Things are going great here at the MTC. I've been trying super hard not to be FREAKISHLY stressed out about the Language..... It's harder then it sounds. But! I know the lord will help me with the language... it's just patience that I need. We'll see how that one goes. :) All I can do is prepare as best as I can for the launguage and the doctrine. The lord will help with the rest.

I've been here for 6 1/2ish weeks now! Can you believe it! crazy to me! Time flies when you're stressed. :) lol I love hearing from all of you... It's such a blessing to have all of you supporting me. Please keep sending me random information, things you thought that day, anything. I would love to hear about it.

Last saturday we Had a 4th of July devotional, and then they allowed us to go out and watch the stadium of Fire fireworks. Best part -> we got to stay up an extra Hour! WOOT WOOT!!! lol But for some Odd strange reason, we were all tired the next day.... Weird. :)

Nothing super eventfully has been going on the week. Hermana Lao has started her Physical Therapy. We've gotten to ride in a CAR! What what! Three times this week, and next week it will be four. We have missed a lot of class. It's hard to think you're good at Spanish when you haven't been in class and have been trying to learn by yourself. It's very hard. But the Lord did know I would have this trial. I believe that is why I was placed with Hermana Lao. He knew I could do it without class. My spanish Goal for a whole week failed yesterday, but it's going to be a lot better today. Crossing my fingers. It's Helped a lot though - I've only done two days and my fluidity has gotten better. I'm hoping I improve a ton in the next four days. I just have to remember that I NEED to speak Spanish, and look up the words I don't know.



I love you all so much!

Erin

Mantener la Fe
(Keep the Faith)

All is well.... (July 1st)

Everything here really has been good. Sunday was awesome - Elder Bednar gave a great talk about becoming a good missionary. The prayer in sacrament meeting went well also.

We had a really good lesson on reverence the other day, and if any of you guys have a minute please check it out. Just read what it has to say about reverence in 'True to the Faith'. I never really thought of it like that so... ya. Check it out.

Some time this week... I can´t remember when(they are all bleeding together, we (Elder Beatty, Elder Varney, and I) went on a follow the spirit kick. Elder Beatty and I were talking to two of these sisters that were having a hard time with their progressing investigator. That was cool, we helped them out a bit, but when we were done we went over to Elder Varney and he was talking to one of the new Mission Presidents going to Fresno California. Elder Varney asked if he could relate the Gospel to rugbie. I thought it was a weird question and just decided that he had figured out that he as a rugbie coach... TURNS OUT: This Mission President was the Highland Rugbie Coach, The one they talk about on 'Forever Strong'. He gave us an awesome quote which I can't remember for my life right now - hopefully Varney and Beatty wrote it down. I'll tell you later. :) It was so cool. Loved It!

My Spanish... Um.... ya... Not the best stuff in the world. My goal this week is to speak solomente en espanol (only in spanish). I'm hoping it will work. I need to learn to be more fluid - crossing my fingers.

I LOVE to hear about the random stuff mom and kim do... so I don't think I would mind hearing about the random stuff the rest of you guys do.

I love you all so much.

Erin

Keep the Fatih

1/2 WAY... at the MTC :) (June 24th)

Last Tuesday and Wednesday all of our older District left for DC and Boston, Spanish speaking. I miss them all so much. I'm super sad to see them go. We had another sister (Hermana Motaliki) with us for a couple of days before they were finally able to get a hold of her mission pres and get her out to her mission. She left this morning.

Yes, it is my 1/2 way mark here in the MTC. I'm on my 5th week and I'm really REALLY nervous now. I only have a little time to learn so many more words and sentence structures.... crossing my fingers and praying.

This week is the Mission President's Training week! 1/3 of all mission presidents are here, along with the Apostles and President Monson. My mission president is here and I get to meet him tonight, I'm stoked! I talked a little yesterday with Julie Beck - that was fun. I saw President Uchtdorf this morning, and Elder Bednar is speaking @ 4:30. Other big news... We have a combined Sacrament meeting (were an apostle is presiding) and I get to say the closing prayer... talk about nerve wracking. OH well... esta bien.

Hermana Lao is doing Awesome. She had surgery on Monday and was REALLY out of it for a while. Her ACL was apparently torn for a couple years. HAHA... Weird ha? I keep thinking of the odds of her ending up with the nurse for Paraguay as her companion - blows my mind. The Lord truly does have a plan for each of us.

Yesterday we had our meeting with the Argentine Consolate. We have to meet with him to get a visa for Argentina. We asked and he answered questions for about 1 hour and 1/2 and then we signed twice on a piece of paper and we were on our way. :) super easy. He was telling us a lot about Resistencia. He said it's really poor and broken down. Huge amounts of jungle and that we will probably doing a lot of service. I'M SO EXCITED!!! :)

I'm quickly running out of time. 4 min 10 seconds.... I would have had more to write you, but I lost my planner yesterday along with everything that had happened this week.

I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for your letters, keep them up!

Hermana Erin Kaye Griffeth!

Keep the Faith

I think my companions are dying! (June 17th)

So... this week has been.... well it's been. I actually can't remember what happened for this week. Other then the fact that our zone is losing 11 missionaries to the Spanish speaking US States missions.... and gaining 24 ELDERS>.... NO sisters... lame ha?

OH. Ya, Herman Lao is getting surgery on Monday. She has a torn ACL and a torn maniscus. 6-8 week recovery. We are hoping for six, since we leave in six weeks. Please pray for her. We need a quick recovery. Hermana Hubbard has a bump behind her ear and she has been getting crazy head aches. Let's just say we've been to the health center and hospital a lot this week. While they have been at the hospital, I've had to be a solo sister! That's been fun... but whatever. :)

I love you all dearly! Thank you all so much for the letters. I love hearing from all of you (hopefully kyle too) and I hope and pray things are going well.

Love you,.

Erin

Keep the Faith!

Hola Familia! June 10th

I haven't really talked much about my district or my companions, so I'll do that now. My first companion is Hermana Hubbard, from Idaho. A farm girl, her family owns a freakin' ton of land and lives in Soda Springs. She loves it. She's the Mission Nurse for Paraguay and is stressing out about it. She has to learn the language and all the medical stuff that all the doctors are learning. She's awesome - Love her! Hermana Lao is from Salt Lake. She's Tongan and talks sort of a high class ghetto. lol :) it's really funny. She is going to Argentina with me. They are both great teachers.
My Elders.... Oh man I love them. 4 are going to Paraguay and 4 are going to Argentina. Elder Garret and Elder Scott (The Grand nephew of Elder Scott) are so funny. Elder Garret is tall and LOUD, Elder Scott is Short and Quiet, good combo, no? :) Elder Christensen is awesomely, seriously funny, you don't know what he is being because you can't read is face half the time. Elder Dallimore is Hilarious, he makes a joke out of anything. These four are going to Argentina with me. Elder Beatty is from Hurricane, Utah. He is really good at Spanish and is picking it up quickly. Elder Varney is a volleyball star - lol, he is learning quickly also. Love those 2. Elder Marple Is AMAZING at Spanish. It's crazy how well he is picking it up. Finally, Elder Edwards is 23 and a convert to the church. He joined 5 years ago and is awesome - a little strict, but who isn't? He's having some struggles not growing up in the church, so he has a hard time teaching, and he isn't picking the language up as fast, but he is awesome! These four are going with Hermana Hubbard to Paraguay. I love all of them so much! They are all amazing, and bring something new to life here at the MTC.
So, instead of hysterical crying this week, it was hysterical laughing. We did a door approach and I introduced myself as Erin. lol :) Hermano Gamez had me try again. He shut the door and I just started laughing hysterically. I was crying so hard that Hermano Gamez thought I was crying because I got it wrong. lol - That is how hard I was laughing. Then, the same day, in class with Hermano Martinez - he had us repeating the word Religion and he got to me... and I just started laughing... HYSTERICALLY. I don't know what happened. lol
Yesterday, Hermana Lao was sick (still is) and we stayed upstairs in the dorm all day. Hermana Hubbard and I learned 91 Spanish words. It was kind of nice being in PJ's all day again. She also thinks she tore her meniscus on her knee. We are hoping it is nothing, but we are going to the Hospital on Monday to get an MRI. Fun ha? Pray that I don't get sick, cause I don't have insurance, and I can't afford an MRI.
Spanish is going good. I'm am having a hard time practicing. Hopefully I can
push through that though. Love the teachers, love the elders, love the Hermanas.
Love you,

Erin

Keep the Faith

I hope you guys are getting my emails.... (June 5th)

Oh my goodness. I can't tell you how much I LOVE and HATE the MTC. :) LOVE. because I am learning and growning and preparing to teach the awesome people of Argentina. Hate because of all the stress. I broke down in class on Wednesday... Not a light breakdown... Which I could have handled, but PURE HUGE, MASSIVE, tears... Not my finest moment, the Elders look terrified... they didn't know what to do - that was funny. We were doing door approaches in espanol and I knew it by heart, but I got nervous and forgot everything. The elders I worked with looked so sad for me. They tried to help me, but that didn't seem to make a difference. I just broke down. and then, my class spent the next HOUR giving scriptures and thoughts that would help "the class" (really me, because everybody kept looking at me and talking to me), so that helped/ did not help me. I just felt stupid.
I love my teachers. I do. So much. Hermano Gamez is my favorite. I learn the language a lot better from him (he's a native from Spain.) But Hermano Martinez is awesome too! (he's a native from Equidor). I'm just having a hard time getting the laungage. You guys were right... you look around and see that everyone is getting it but you. That is one of the reasons I broke down.
Kyle, read Preach My Gospel. Ready study, and enjoy. Not only do you have all the lessons you are going to teach in it, but it also has all this advice about learning languages, how to teach, how to plan our time... all this amazing stuff that I didn't know were in it.

I love you all so much! I have to go, I have a minute left.
love love love

Erin

Keep the Faith

Mi Familia! (May 28th)

Man this week has been crazy. I'm losing everything. I brought something I wasn't supposed to and I'm loving it! If you haven't received my package yet, It contains a letter to you guys... so far explaining what has happened, 2 thank you notes, and it also contains my phone. I KNOW! Stupido. Completely thought I left it at home, but apparently not. I turned it off and sent it home.

As I said, this week has been crazy. We started straight into our Spanish lessons the first day, and haven't looked back. I'm loving my teachers, Hermano Martinez and Hermano Gomez. I like Gomez better, I just understand his teaching more, but Hermano Martinez is a great Mistro (teacher).

Hermana Lao, Hermana Hubbard, and I are sticking together. Hermana Hubbard's companion didn't show, so we are super excited to be a trio and have a room with 3 sets of bunk beds all to ourselves. :) I like it.

I am stressing out about the language of course, but I'm slowly willing myself to study, and I know the lord will do the rest. :) It's harder then it looks. I know it has only been 4 days, so I shouldn't be panicking yet.... I hope. :)

Food is great! Trying super hard not to eat cereal every meal. Or Ice cream. :) We are still trying to get the Elders to sit with us (we jave 8 elders, 4 to Paraguay and 4 to Resistencia). I think they are a little afraid of us - It's kind of amusing. The other Elders in our District who have been her longer are talkative. But it has only been 4 days... so I'm not worried. We have 9 weeks with them.

Love you all so much!

Hermana Erin Kaye Griffeth

Keep the Faith

The Adventure Begins! (May 25th)

On May 25, 2011, I entered the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah for nine weeks of intensive language training and spiritual growth. My family, including Grandma Rovena, were able to drop me off at the curb. It all happened very fast!

The Call Arrives! (January 5th, 2011)

A large, suspicious envelope arrived on January 5, 2011. With my family gathered around and with some degree of nervousness, I opened the envelope. I had been called to serve in the Resistencia, Argentina Mission and would enter the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah on May 25, 2011. It would be a long 4 1/2 months....

It's Here!